Japan
The Empire of Japan is a new nation added with The Pack of the Rising Sun. Description Japan, overall, is a mixed faction. They have superior air units; similar to the British. However, on the other hand, tanks lack in overall performance (excluding the O-I), like their heavy tank, the Chi-Ri, still lacks firepower compared to other heavy tanks. Despite their powerful air units, their ground to air capability is rather subpar, thankfully being remedied somewhat by their Flak 88 substitution, the Type 88 75mm, costing half the price of its German counterpart. The problem with the Type 88 75mm is that it has less range to tank units and less damage to air units, therefore the half price comes a cost. Japan provides an unusual playable faction, combining ingenuity, and cheap production costs. Players will have to make the most of half-buried bunkers to lock strategic routes, and use their Dokuritsu Kôhei units – flamethrower-equipped – to flush out their enemies. Also named the “paper tank”, the Ha-Go is a cheap and quick to produce new solution, as well as the super-heavy tank, the O-I, will help to gain supremacy through its outstanding firepower. While the famous Zero will dominate the skies, the surprising Shinden will cast its rear-propelled silhouette and quad 30mm cannons over the battlefield. Also, prototypes such as the AOV recon and the Ha-To long range missile launcher will surprise your opponent from afar. Early era Japanese units are very poor, but as time goes on during a match this will change somewhat. The Chi-Ri heavy tank, in numbers of three or more, can stand up to Pershings (though at at least one will be destroyed in such an engagement), and Japanese infantry, while difficult to use, are very effective, with a sharpshooters unit able to kill infantry from afar, and a flamethrower unit that will barbique infantry garrisoned in a city. Shindens eventually become available, and the Renzan bomber is a capable unit able to bomb most buildings flat. Overall, Japan is the more "extreme" version of the U.S.A. Units HQ *Pillbox: Anti-Infantry and Anti-Armor defence bunker, it has excellent reistance, and can stand up to long barrages of artillery fire, but it is not good against heavy tanks. *105mm Position: Anti-Armor bunker, but can be easily destroyed. *AA Position Anti-Air bunker, good against both aircraft and infantry but can be destroyed by fighter-bombers. Barracks *Kurogane *Konoe *Sogekihei *Dokuritsu Kohei Artillery & Anti-air Base *Type 35-75mm *Type 88-75mm *Ku-Se Armor Base *Ha-Go *Chi-Ha **Chi-Nu ***Chi-Ri *Ta-Se Anti-tank Base *Type 1-47mm *Ho-Ru *Ho-Ri Airfield *Suise *Giretsu Kuteitai *Teishin Shudan *Zero **Shinden *Suisei *Renzan Prototype Base *A.O.V. *O-I *Ha-To History The Imperial Army of Japan started building and modernizing their forces as early as the 1920s, by the 1930's Japan had a well disciplined, and trained force poised to invade Southern Asia. The island of Japan had very few natural resources, most of their exports had to be imported from foreign countries. In addition, their major import partners were Allied troops, well before World War II initially began. Finally under the rule of Hideki Tōjō, in July 7,1937 Japanese forces invaded China which lead into the Second Sino-Japanese war. The Chinese military managed to hold off the south-eastern, foreign invaders, however, they were mostly unsuccessful, but managed to hold off, and not let the few coastlines fall into Imperial hands. At this point in the war most people didn't see Japan as a major threat, and simply ignored them, until they lead an invasion against Malaysia, and pushed all the way to Singapore crushing the British, which was part of a major strike force, one was to hit the southern pacific, and the north to strike at Pearl Harbor,which they succeeded in destroying most of the navy ships, but no aircraft carriers. This raised anger in the United States. President Roosevelt requested Congress approval to disembark in the Pacific War, Congress gave approval, and the Pacific War began. After Malaysia was conquered, the Japanese commanders set their sights on the Philippines, the many structures and supply dumps that were holed up there, the only problem is the fact that the Philippines were under American control. They knew if they laid siege; the full force of the American military would come and defend against the Japanese. Therefore they all agreed that the only way to win in the Pacific War was to launch a pre-emptive strike on American naval forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. So on December 7th, 1941 over 300 Japanese torpedo-bombers and dive bombers laid siege on the American fleet as it laid stationary in the harbor. Many ships were sunk and large amounts of damage was put on the Americans and over 2,000 men were Killed In Action (KIA), the following day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked to declare war against The Axis Powers. Congress accepted, and America, the sleeping giant, had awaken. In the beginning, America was not very well equipped nor trained enough to fight a major conflict due to recent recovery from The Great Depression. Therefore they were not well prepared to fight a versatile war and as a result their armies were shortened rather early. Battles such as the battle of the Bataan, which lead to the one of the worst if not the worst military disaster in U.S. Military history. After the terrible defeat at Bataan, the United States then focused more on the pacific theater in 1942 when midway island was threatened. Then United States general Douglas MacArthur lead his famous island-hopping campaign, which lead American forces towards the Japanese coast, once the island of Okinawa fell in 1945, American forces were capable but did not want to invade Japan. The island was heavily fortified and taking it would be a bloodbath, so in August of 1945 MacArthur got the go-ahead by President Truman to use the prototype atomic bomb. Only two bombs were ignited. The first one codenamed "Little Boy" abolished Hiroshima, then shortly after, the procceeding bomb codenamed "Fat Man" soon made the great city of Nagasaki all but a radioactive crater. Due to the horrifying damages; the Japanese, seeing no way to counter the atomic bomb, surrendered. Later they captured the prime minister of whom was believed to be in charge of the war; his name is to be Hideki Tojo. Later Tojo was executed by hanging. Thus fully and forever drawing an end to the war in the Pacific. Tactics *Japan is effective mid-game, with fast heavy tanks, and good intial air units, they can roll over enemy outposts and suround bases. *Sharpshooters are perfect for clearing out forests filled with flak and anti-tank guns. Watch out for armored recon though, as the sharpshooters lack decent anti-tank weapons. *Japan's weakness is the their anti-air, as they can't hide AA in forests. Keep this in mind when planning base defences. *Airborne recon allows for early surveillance of the enemy, especially useful on large maps. *Multi-purpose super heavy tank O-I is an excellent assault unit combined with tank destoryers. *Combat engineers have flamethrowers that can shoot over obstacles. Use them to clear out city squares and destory fortifications near forests. *A.O.V unarmed recon is excellent for spotting enemy targets, as it can't easily be destroyed by enemy arty or fighter bombers. Category:Factions Category:Japan